“Nashville has done this before and there is no reason we should question our ability to do it again,” wrote Tom Turner, the downtown group’s president and CEO. “Our track record speaks for itself.”

Critics argue that there are at least a couple of reasons to raise that question: a recession unlike anything seen in the past 70 years and a national convention market that is now overbuilt, creating a gap between supply and demand. Supporters counter that Nashville has a stronger “brand” than many other cities and would be able to overcome those market forces.